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Oct
26
The television station, NBC, uses the slogan, The More You Know to promote short pieces intended to inform us about a wide variety of topics like bullying, Internet safety, smoking, reading with your kids and HIV/AIDs.
Thoughts about those promotions came to me after reading this article by the Plain Dealer’s Aaron Marshall, in particular:
The Ohio House, without discussion, agreed 84-10 to a minor change made by Senate lawmakers to legislation banning cash prizes from video games.
Asked why lawmakers skipped the customary explanation of the change to the bill, House Speaker Jon Husted said he “didn’t think there was anyone who wanted to speak to it.”
As I read that article, I remembered how the Ohio legislature treated SB16 similarly, insofar as legislators saying very, very little on the record about the bill, and likewise HB151, the currently tabled proposal (which was done very quietly after inside negotiations) to force some of Ohio’s pensions to divest of Iran and Sudan.
And I thought about how aggravated I get when I think about how the legislature does so much that we never read about and, in fact, few people can even witness or investigate as it happens.
So, then, I started to think about the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association and its gatekeeper function over who gets to cover the statehouse directly. Here’s a little bit about them, but you can read more at their website:
OLCA functions independently to ensure only legitimate reporters are granted floor privileges in the House of Representatives and Senate. OLCA also acts as a watchdog to preserve the rights of the public and press to access government records and meetings.
“Only legitimate reporters”
Isn’t that a loaded phrase these days?
Here comes that “are bloggers journalists” thing, in a slightly different form.
As it so happens, Paul Kostyu, according to the website, is the president of the association. I shared a few minutes of “fame” on Capitol Square’s Battle of the Blogosphere edition during which he asked some often-asked and not unreasonable questions about political blogs.
This OLCA membership roster tells us more specifically. I only counted 43 individual names on it but the website says that they have more than 50. Each individual is affiliated with a newspaper, radio or television station, plus the Gongwer News Service and the AP.
As I mulled over the list, I thought about how Tom Blumer and I once exchanged some emails about a desire to get bloggers accepted into the OLCA, or the statehouse.
And I thought, we have a state of more than 9 million people over 18, and only 43 people get access to the statehouse to report what’s going on inside? Why, we have at least that many decent Ohio blogs that cover politics, with many of them doing original reporting, though, of course, not from inside the statehouse. Yet.
Now, before I get all accused of being a typical blogger maligning something she doesn’t know anything about, I will confess: I have not made a single formal inquiry yet about the group’s lean toward or away from credentialing bloggers. And of course I’m aware of the records and journals that one can look at to see what happened on any given day at the Ohio legislature (ha – have you ever tried doing that on a regular basis? not fun or easy, though better than it used to be).
But I can tell you this: As soon as I finish a current writing project, I will. Make a formal inquiry that is. I correspond regularly with several of those OLCA members, I’ve been on panels with some of them, I link to many of them and a few even have let my blog’s name roll off their tongues, among other blogs’ names.
We need to have a chat, and the time for that chat is sooner, not later.
Because in The More You Need to Know era, our legislators can choose to stay completely silent on every single issue that affects all 11 million Ohioans, and those 43 to 50 folks credentialed by the OLCA must carry the burden for the rest of us in terms of whether or not to write about, investigate or ignore our elected officials’ silence.
If that’s the way it works – emphasis on “if” until I learn more, then it just doesn’t cut it anymore.
NB: California’s legislative credentialing body started to allow in bloggers earlier this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At a minimum, that experience should be looked at and considered, so that any fears about credentialling Ohio bloggers can be substantiated, or eliminated.
Final NB: I’ve emailed several of the OLCA members, the ones with whom I’ve crossed paths before, to let them know about this post. I am opening the conversation, not shoving it or thrusting it or waving it. They have to have been wondering when this would happen anyway, wouldn’t you think? Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:06 am October 26th, 2007 in Blogging, Media | 5 Comments
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Oct
26
Huge congratulations to my fellow Marcus Institute graduate, Ilana Isakoff. What a fantastic choice for the 2007 Ambassador Milton A. and Roslyn Z. Wolf Young Campaigner of the Year Award from the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.
I actually hated being schlepped down to the New Haven Jewish Community Federation to help out with Super Sunday and other fundraising events. I am really, really bad at asking people for money and I would do pretty much anything to not have to help. However, there are a few people who I cannot deny and when they get put up to it to ask me, I do it.
But I don’t like it.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:31 am October 26th, 2007 in Jewish, Ohio, Women | Comments Off
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Oct
26
What do Jews do: Halloween
Filed Under Culture, Judaism, Parenting | 5 Comments
I couldn’t say it any better than this Cleveland Jewish News article that provides some historical background for Halloween and the positions of the different Jewish branches on observing or participating in it. But the basic point is:
Because of its religious origins, Halloween has always netted mixed reactions from religious leaders, rabbis, parents and children.
That’s my feeling too – it’s a mixed bag of rocks and candy a la Charlie Brown.
I never really enjoyed dressing up, but I did like the running around and the candy. My kids participate but we don’t make much of a deal of it. Mostly, it’s a non-issue that we face annually – which, when you think about it, seems counter-intuitive if something is really a non-issue.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:16 am October 26th, 2007 in Culture, Judaism, Parenting | 5 Comments
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Oct
26
With a hattip to this post at Buckeye State Blog via Lefty Blogs, we now know from the Columbus Dispatch’s Joe Hallett that Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman (D) will announce his endorsement of Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee:
Despite phone calls from both Clintons — Bill and Hillary — Mayor Michael B. Coleman will endorse Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination at an Obama campaign rally Friday in Columbus.
Comparing Obama to two Democratic icons, Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, Coleman called the Illinois senator “a one-of-a-kind who comes along only every few generations.”
“Every once in a while, a figure comes in history who is a galvanizing and uniting force, an inspirational person who lifts up peoples’ hopes, and I think that person is Barack Obama,” Coleman told The Dispatch.
Hedging bets:
“I do like Hillary,” Coleman said. “I have huge respect for her, and if she does become the nominee, I will work feverishly for her. But I view Barack as a generational leader, the first time in a long time this country has seen such a transformational figure.”
What did not influence him:
“This has nothing to do with my race for mayor and it has nothing to do with race at all,” Coleman said. “It has to do with the nation’s best interests and, in fact, transcends issues of race. It’s about electing a president who can bring people together, not divide them.”
All sounds sincere, all most likely is very sincere. And all will play just fine no matter who gets the nomination, since it’s likely to be either Hillary or Barack.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:06 am October 26th, 2007 in Politics, WH2008 | Comments Off
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